Concordia University

Background

The John Molson School of Business (JMSB) at
Concordia University in Montreal is considered one of the
top business schools in Canada. In 2007, plans for the
construction of a brand new facility that would house the
business school were underway, and the Solar Buildings
Network at Concordia proposed the idea of demonstrating
a new state-of-the-art hybrid solar technology—
SolarWall®
PV/Thermal—developed by Conserval
Engineering. It combines the award-winning SolarWall®
air heating technology with photovoltaic panels in one
highly-efficient system.Of all the energy produced in Canada, 50% is consumed
in buildings (NRCan Technical Report OEE 2952). This
emphasizes the importance of building integrated renewable
energy systems—like the SolarWall PV/T system—
that are able to cost effectively produce multiple forms of
clean green energy from the same surface.

Solution

The two architect firms who designed the John Molson
School of Business (KPMB and FSA) seamlessly integrated
the SolarWall PV/T system into the exterior façade.
The final result was an extremely impressive and modern
looking solar system that caps the top floors and is clearly
visible from the downtown city streets below.
The JMSB SolarWall®
PV/TTM installation is a 100 kW
system, producing 24.5 kW of electricity and over 75 kW
of thermal heating.